Respect Victoria delivered its first Three Yearly Report to the Victorian Parliament on the progress of preventing family violence and violence against women in Victoria in 2022. This was the first time Victoria had a picture of primary prevention efforts across the state. It provided a valuable benchmark of Victoria’s prevention system, a means of tracking how we are progressing and where the challenges lie.
We are now pleased to present the second Three Yearly Report to the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence and to all members of the Victorian Parliament on progress from January 2022 to December 2024. Reporting is a requirement of the Prevention of Family Violence Act 2018 (Vic) that governs Respect Victoria. The enshrinement of the reporting function in legislation showed intent and foresight from the 2018 Victorian Parliament, in keeping prevention on the political agenda and providing transparency and accountability on how Victoria is tracking towards the transformational goal of a state free from violence.
Building on the first Three Yearly Report to Parliament, this report gives us a richer picture of Victoria’s prevention system. It is a bird’s eye view of prevention activity across Victoria, identifying progress and highlighting key achievements. It also considers new trends and emerging issues, and sets the agenda for future impactful work.
However, we know that prevention is a long-term strategy, and its outcomes are not immediate, but there are indicators in the short to medium term that give us hope. This report shows where the hope and challenges lie. And increasingly in today’s society, these challenges are significant.
The last three years have seen the rise of online misogyny leading to radicalising of boys and men; weaponisation of new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI); shifting social norms about gender, sex and relationships; economic instability; rising inequality; and the aftermath of the profound societal and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tragically, during this period, we have continued to witness many deaths and disappearances of women and children and increasing levels of gendered violence nationally. In response, Victorian people have come out in their thousands to demand change, calling for the rejection and eradication of all forms of gendered violence. The rallies across towns, cities and suburbs here and around the country in 2024 are an example of communities mobilising to end violence.
Despite the challenges, there has been progress. Ever resourceful, the Victorian prevention system and its workforce have risen to these challenges by deepening partnerships, leveraging research and using innovative approaches from across the public health field to address problems and evolve to meet changed social conditions. Victoria has seen positive shifts in community attitudes and a prioritisation of prevention across the state, consistent with a deepening understanding of the individual and broader social, economic and community benefits of prevention in driving down the high rates of family violence, violence against women and all forms of gendered violence.
Victoria’s prevention efforts have been nation leading, and there is a long legacy of leadership from the Victorian Government across the political spectrum. There have been significant advances made in prevention over the past three years, and this report shows there is much to be celebrated. However, the impact of this good work will dissipate if we do not sustain and safeguard these gains. Over this reporting period, violence against women and children has continued to increase across Victoria, indicating a greater need to boost efforts to change the societal conditions underpinning this national crisis. In addition, we have continued to see alarmingly high rates of violence and intensifying backlash, discrimination and violence towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse, intersex, queer or questioning, and asexual (LGBTIQA+) communities, in particular trans and gender diverse people. Addressing this must be an explicit priority within our efforts to prevent family and gendered violence in this state.
Primary prevention in Victoria has not yet had its full potential realised because it has never been funded at the scale required to achieve its intended population-level outcomes. Victoria’s prevention system is relatively small and young in the goliath effort of changing entrenched social norms and behaviours that drive violence and permeate every part of our society, institutions and systems. Our state requires long-term, sustained and coordinated investment. Preventing violence is a wicked problem that requires bold and unwavering political leadership, bipartisan commitment and resourcing to scale for desired impact and generational change.
The crisis of family violence, violence against women and gendered violence is still real and urgent. As evidence shows, many lives depend on a well-resourced and coordinated system of prevention, early intervention, response and recovery. In our efforts to respond to this crisis, we must not lose sight of the need to stop violence before it starts. Tackling the underlying drivers and causes of this violence is the important work that prevention plays in this system.
We commend this report to the Victorian Parliament and call upon all members to show their leadership and commitment, as essential components to progressing the prevention of family and sexual violence, violence against women and all forms of gendered violence in our state.